everyone seems to love these, and i love making them because really, they're so mindless!
i've made 4 or 5 of them, but of course i only remembered to take pics of two of them.
i made this one for myself, with red/burgundy crochet cotton and lots and lots of black beads. by the time i'd strung the beads, it was almost twice as tall as me (i'm 5'2") and by the time i'd crocheted them all in, it was almost 4 times as tall as me! i purposely made it really chunky, and fairly tight around my neck, because i'm not a big fan of delicate jewelery.
this one wasn't quite as long. it's purple crochet cotton, with blue and teal beads. it was a christmas present for my mom's best friend's daughter, from all of us. my mom bought the beads, and i put it together. i had to add some extra jump rings, because it ended up a little smaller than i thought, but oh well, it just means it's adjustable!
i thread all the beads onto the cotton using a tool that is apparently designed for people with braces to floss with, but it works really well!
http://www.dentist.net/butler-gum-eez-thru-threaders.asp then i chain the beads in, alternating between the beads and a few extra chain stitches every once in a while. i tried making just one long necklace, but it got so tangled everytime you tried to put it on and take it off, it was extremely irritating. instead, i crochet the huge long strand, then i put jump rings through the stitches at certain points. i join all the jump rings together, and add a clasp. easy peesy, just time consuming! they're perfect for in front of the tv.
